A letter from Tim Carriker serving in Brazil
September 2015 - Transition
Dear friends,
Soon Marta and I will return to the U.S., in the Charlotte area, to conclude our current term of service in Brazil. We would love to have the opportunity to visit you between December and March to share with you how God has been at work in and through our partnerships, and to personally thank you for the support you have given us over the years.
Our prayers these days focus especially on our current transition in ministry. We covet your prayers as well. Let me explain.
Over two months ago our partner in Brazil, the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPCB), voted at their General Assembly to end their partnership with the PC(USA) due to the PC(USA) General Assembly’s overtures regarding removing barriers of sexual orientation in the ordination of clergy and regarding marriage equality at the 2012 and 2014 Assemblies respectively. Although we have had an excellent working relationship and deep friendships with the IPCB, that termination of partnership means we will no longer be able to work with them. The Presbyterian Mission Agency of the PC(USA) graciously offered us several alternatives both within Brazil and in several other Latin American countries to continue for another term before retirement in 2019 (I am currently 63, Marta is 58), but we felt we needed to continue our focus on a project that has increasingly occupied our attention. I am referring to my work as General Editor of the Mission Study Bible published in October 2014 in Portuguese. It has been a significant success, so much so that the Brazilian Bible Society along with the United Bible Societies has approved further projects in both Spanish and English and have asked me to coordinate those projects. (Here are some links on the Mission Study Bible project: https://www.pcusa.org/news/2015/6/1/presbyterian-mission-co-worker-edits-innovative-st/ ; https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/carriker-timothy-and-marta-2015-01/ ; http://missioncrossroads.epubxp.com/i/536052-sum-2015/2, pp. 6-7).
Unfortunately, a partnership with the Brazilian Bible Society is not within the priorities of the Presbyterian Mission Agency that focuses understandably on denominational partnerships. So we will end our service with the Presbyterian Mission Agency on March 31, 2016. We hope to initiate shortly afterward one last term of service through another organization.
However, it is very important to us to visit churches that have supported us during the last 38 years, say a hearty thanks, and encourage you to continue to support PC(USA)’s global mission efforts. We simply could not have accomplished what we did without this long-term support, and we do hope that our supporting churches will continue to support the sending of Presbyterian World Mission co-workers like us.
We will be available to visit any time between December and the end of March. So far we are only beginning to work on our schedule, so nearly anything is possible. Here is a rough plan of where we will be and when. We would like to see if we may visit you when we are in your area.
December 1–20 North and South Carolina
January 4–10 Virginia
January 11–14 Louisville, Kentucky
January 15–31 North and South Carolina
February Florida
March 1–13 Alabama and Georgia
March 15–31 Ohio and Pennsylvania
Please know that we look forward to seeing you, and that we will contact you soon to arrange for a date when we may stop by.
We appreciate your prayers, your correspondence, and your unfailing support of God’s mission in Brazil through us. Though we will be leaving our assignment in March, we actually continue on the PC(USA) payroll until September 30, 2016. We appreciate this time of transition that the PC(USA) provides us as a benefit to help us become established in a new position, and we ask that you would continue your support through September just as you continue to support us in prayer.
Much love and gratitude to all...
Tim
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 49
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